Busy times filling up my Etsy shop!

Hello friends....
I've been enjoying the redwoods surrounding my studio this summer...busy as a bee, the doors and windows wide open, creating pretty lacy books and journals to fill my Etsy shop.

Please feel free to 'pin' any of these onto Pinterest!

This is a sweet covered journal, perfect for your gratitude thoughts. Found here on Etsy.

 Another reusable covered journal.... fits the standard composition book. Found here.

Little Girls in the Garden

This little lacy book is chock full of beautiful vintage laces and trims. So much fun creating this sweet little book featuring Girls in the Garden. 11 pages, one with a pocket for your keepsake or sweet memories. One standout in this book is the beautiful red tatted trim! 

Measures a bountiful 5x7" with tons of lace peeking out! 
Just a sample layout... sweet pocket on the left.

Ooolala Naughty Dancers, lace album, lace collage book, Mixed Media Fabric book, Shabby Chic Lace Book!

Ooolala! These ladies of the 1920s were all about dancing! Ziegfeld Follies ladies, a great inspiration for this fabric and lace journal. Each page speaks for itself! Each page, a collage of vintage photos, laces, trims, and feathers! 

Measures approximately 6x7" with lots of lace and feathers peeking out!

Gypsy Soul,

I was blessed with a vision of how this book was to be, about the message of love and acceptance, and the wild abandon our ancestors, out 'Gypsy' grandmothers may have lived their lives! A message we can all appreciate today!

On each page, you'll find a vintage image of a Gypsy friend, gazing at us through the window of time. Each image has been printed on quality linen paper, then glazed with a layer of natural bees was, known as an 'encaustic' application. Each layout also supports a pocket in which you'll find an adorned, interactive tag, quoting the wisdom best remembered from a Gypsy Life.

ELEVEN decorated pages, many pockets and tags.

May you be blessed with the 'Gypsy Spirit'!!!

Book measures a supple 8x10, and is 4" thick! Lots of jewels, laces, trims, all in rich, rich color! Some laces and/or trims were specially dyed.

 Just one sample layout... there are MANY tags and pockets in this lacy book! See the Etsy post for more pictures.

Girls sewing book

I learned to sew as a young girl in the fifties, at my mother's feet of course. She'd provide the scraps as I hand stitched dresses for my dollies.

Hopefully, you'll remember those times when looking through this sweet little lace book. Created with vintage laces and trims. The last page is a pocket page created from two antique little girl dresses.

Measures a bountiful 5x7" with tons of lace peeking out!

So, these are just a few of the lacy creations this month. Thanks for looking.
Sweet blessings to you!
xoxo Chris

'To DREAM' a Lace Mixed Media Album

For your enjoyment... A Lace Book now available in my ETSY SHOP.
 Front cover with layers of crochet lace doiley, roses, silk flower and just a touch of bling.

Inside front pages...layers of lace, sweet rosette flower, designer fabric samples, a pocket on the left side, "To love is to receive a glimpse of heaven." quote on the right side. Lovely vintage painting has been printed on cotton twill.

 EVERY set of two pages supports a pocket for you to tuck in tags, messages, sweet thoughts.

 Sorry, this one is blurry... I've included a better closeup below.

'Gathered Prayers' A Lacy Book Album

Hello friends... Have you ever wanted to create something for a friend who is ill, injured, or hurting? I felt a deep draw this week to create this Lacy Book for my friend Sue who broke her elbow, has had surgery, and will be months recuperating. She is part of a huge Christian Church, I know she'll receive many, many get well cards. So this is a Lacy book that is full of many, many pockets for her to keep her cards in.  She's one of the dealers in my shop, so we'll all write little notes on some tags I've yet to make.  This whole process was such a 'feel good' project to do!

Four more pages...

Ah... I had most of yesterday in my sewing studio, tucked under the protection of my giant Redwoods! Didn't have a clue what I was going to create... then my supplies started jumping into my hands saying 'pick me' - 'use me' - and - 'I'll be perfect there!"

So here are the four new pages.
The sweet image was printed on silk. The fabrics are from vintage dresses, and the little crochet pocket... well, I think it was to put on the bottom of a glass? This is what popped off my shelf and said 'use me, I'll be perfect here'.

 This page I created to be placed opposite of the above page. Originally, this needle point was to be incorporated into one of my gypsy purses.... but it really looks great here.

 I love the way the silk took my inkjet color on  Mother Mary. I rediscovered several purple-ish dresses in a drawer... Handy scissors and here we go.

 More fabric from the purple-ish dresses.... the pocket here is actually a purple tulle over an orange silk, embroidered with sequins and a metallic thread. Made for a nice pocket.

 These two little treasure bags I made on Sunday. Used vintage doilies and trims. So much fun. I'm not having much luck selling things on my etsy site... but they are for sale if anyone is interested. ($20 each)

Sunday's stitching...

You'll love this eye-candy because it was so much fun to embellish. These are the first two pages I completed yesterday while watching the 49ers with my hubby. (They won!) I'm not sure if I truly want to say 'completed' because I hold the right to add more if I'm inspired.  Let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions!
  Remember this page? I used a few new flower embellishments, but everything else is vintage... the pink flowers came from the seamstress estate, dating 1919! The abalone buttons from my stash. The ribbons are all bias tape ribbons, also from the 1919 estate.

 Even though it's lowly bias tape, I love the silky look. I just gathered and puckered, tacked it down, then added the buttons.

 Here's a great closeup of the 1919 flower mixed with the newer vintage looking flowers.

 You haven't seen this page yet. I just assembled it yesterday. I had never used these stitches on my Janome machine! I love, love, love them!  This is several layers of both vintage and newer fabrics. I love the heart stitches!

 At the bottom of this picture you can see the precious lace pockets. I've had about a yard of this lace trim in my stash for years.... never wanting to cut into it.  But I think it makes for a lovely pocket!

 And these little lovebirds have also been in my treasures box for a few years, just waiting for the right place to call home. I think they are happy nested in the pink silk ribbon. (The pin on the back was broken, that's how it made its way into the treasure box.)

I actually worked on one more insert, but wont show you until it's more fully embellished.
Happy Monday and Sweet Stitching!
Chris

On a roll with two more insert pages....

Seems like I just can't wait to get into my sewing studio and assemble these foundational inserts for my fabric & lace CQ prayer book. It seems to be taking on a life of it's own as I play with the book, inserts, and embellishments.
This is my forth block or insert (I need 15) made yesterday. You can't see the deep velvet colors, but the foundation is crazy quilted around the message. This is one of the pocket pages, the pocket being the folded crochet doily on the bottom 1/3. All the lace on this piece is vintage! Just waiting now for it's embellishments.

 Now, this insert is a slightly different style, using layers of vintage fabrics from several dresses. There's an oversize piece of tulle that I plan to fold back onto itself, embellishing with silk flowers. I think I'll try to use only the vintage silk ribbons and flowers from my stash I mentioned in a previous post. I'm thinking that on some pages, I want to stay true to pure vintage. I love this angel picture. She's stitched onto a piece of upholstery fabric, which is a pocket as well. This book will have many, many pockets to tuck in prayers and wishes.

You can't see it fully, nor get the effect of the layers of laces and tulle dripping off the end of the page. I love the way it looks when I lay it in the book against the deeper colored pages.

New Prayer Book... Work in Progress

This idea has been floating around my mind for a while now, ever since my 'Votes for Women' fabric/lace book. This time, I wanted to create a finer book, without all the raw edges. After making 20 purses, I'm partial to finished seams. So I created the cover and three signatures for my new book.
I chose deep, saturated colors for the foundation pages. The cover is just a beautiful upholstery fabric my granddaughter found for free at a garage sale! 

 You can barely see (above) the lace on the ends. It's beautiful hand made lace I took from two vintage Irish tea towels.
This view is of the top of the book... no raw edges!

 Inside the front cover showing the first signature. I had just enough of this fabric to create the signature. 15" by 19" gave me my roughly 6x8" book.

 This is funny.... the second signature is a beautiful soft forest green fabric I cut from a home-made runner bought at a garage sale a few months ago for $1. From that runner, I've made a purse, Christmas stocking, and now another signature for my book.... for ONE DOLLAR! (It sure doesn't look forest green in this picture!)

 I chose the third signature fabric just because I like it. The flower looks so nice here, but of course, it will be covered by the lacey pages. It's kind of the way I feel about the insides of my bags, I want things to be as lovely on the inside as the outside. It's all about intention.

 So, there will be 15 (!!!) inserts! Here is the first basic layout. I will be finishing off, embellishing with silk ribbon flowers, vintage jewelry, and what ever inspires me. What you are seeing is only the foundation. Oh... don't you love the squiggly stitches? First time I've used that stitch on my fabulous workhorse Janome sewing machine!

 This book will be filled with beautiful laces, stitches, embellishments, and many, many pockets to hold prayer cards and wishes.  I found an amazing Etsy seller, Green Valley Studios. I spent hours yesterday morning just looking at all of her lovely digital art. Her amazing deal, I bought TEN digital sheets for just $20. They are going to work great on my pocket pages. Do check her out!
'Hope' is the first pocket page I created. I'm imagining some silk embroidered flowers across the doily that is draped over the top. The lace sticking out of the right side is a coffee-dyed Venise lace collar.

 The third insert page is an inspiration page, showing my favorite holy card image from my youth. I always felt the presence of my Guardian Angel (still do!), so she had to come next. I want a number of crazy quilted pages, so here's the first. It's fun to work small, with scraps I'd thrown into my bin. I mounted the little CQ onto a partial vintage hanky with beautiful crochet trim. The bottom is from a vintage tea towel. And to finish the top and right sides I've over-stitched a beautiful vintage crochet lace. The lacy thing on the left is another coffee stained lace applique. This too, awaits embellishments.

Thanks for looking at my WIP! I welcome any suggestions!
Sweetest Blessings